Shoreline
by anti-viper
Summary: It was a stupid idea, leaving the group to walk alone on the beach. Matters don't get much simpler when you add in relationship woes, a gigantic troll, and chilly weather. Rief/Karis  Tiara Shipping  one-shot.


Warning: Long, ranty author's note ahead. You might consider skipping to the story, unless you are interested in my crazy ramblings :P

_It's a very good question: why the hell am I shipping Rief and Karis? Despite the fact that Karis is incredibly shippable (which is somewhat a result of Himi being incredibly difficult to ship and that fact that any Sveta shipping that doesn't involve Matthew just seems off), to the point where she can pretty much be shipped to any male in the party besides Eoleo (and even then if you really feel like it) and Kraden (the very thought of this shipping sickens me on so many levels). This does include Rief, but some part of me just shudders at the pairing._

_You see, I adore Karis as a character. She's like Jenna, (one of my favorites as well) but a little more level-headed and less prone to anger. However, she still has that spark, and couples it with intelligence and a personality I enjoy; it's like she's the better parts of Sheba and Jenna combined (or Ivan and Jenna, which leads to the interesting question, "Who is Karis's mother?"). On the other hand, I despise Rief and I've long wondered why. I mean, he is a mini-Kraden and you can kind of already tell he's a momma's boy (then again, Mia's his mother, so who could blame him?), but besides that I have no real reason to dislike him as much as I do._

_I've come to the conclusion over time that there is one real reason for my hatred towards him; you see I am completely 50/50 when it comes to Vale Shipping and Mud Shipping. Obviously Vale Shipping is established cannon, but Mud Shipping works in a lot of ways and I enjoy it just as much. That being said, I was happy to find out that Vale Shipping was legitimate. No complaints. AND THEN THEY SCREWED UP IMIL SHIPPING FOR ME. I RAGED when I discovered they had made Alex Mia's cousin. So much good potential, ruined. Now all that was left to me was Steam Shipping, incest (which I'm not completely opposed to, and it's not that terrible as they're cousins – possibly distant cousins — but it makes any story awkward or has to focus on the fact that they're breaking a taboo) or Mia marrying some Imillian dope I didn't give a f*** about._

_Needless to say, it seems to be the latter. It also seems that as a result, I've taken my anger out on Rief. He is constantly found in the back of my party, and the gear he is equipped with is usually incredibly weak until endgame when I upgrade everyone. I often grin when he gets hit by attacks. Today, while playing Dark Dawn, I unequipped his mace and laughed as he played fisticuffs with a troll._

_So, in a lot of ways, this is me trying to get over my Rief hatred by pairing him with Karis. I'm also doing this in-game: I've decided I won't let him get to the back of the party until after the Eclipse occurs. Also, and it kind of pains me to say this, Tiara Shipping can be cute. Really cute. Like, how Hotplasma Shipping or Puretorture Shipping were cute, as Ivan was younger than both Mia and Jenna. I'm trying to get the same effect with Rief and Karis and maybe appreciate the little squirt a bit more. It's also worth noting this pairing is entirely possible in the game, and I'd actually put it as the second most likely canon shipping for Karis next to her and Tyrell. As a Dawn Shipper extraordinaire, that kind of hurts, but Spirit Shipping is so god damn obvious that I've pretty much given up hope (and also removes the chance of a Sveta/Karis ship, another favorite of mine). Without further rambling, it's time for some sexy (or not) Rief and Karis action!_

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><p>Shoreline<p>

Karis sighed as she absentmindedly strolled down the shoreline. How long had she been walking, she wondered? It must have been at least an hour, if not more; she had long lost sight of their camp. Despite Tyrell's protests ("Common Matt, you know how much I hate getting sand in my shoes!"), the group had determined that setting up camp on the beach would be a welcome departure from a forest or an open plain. Of course, both Mercury Adepts had equal hands in mentioning the idea and convincing their leader to agree to it. To them, nothing was better than the cold lap of the ocean on their feet and its salty breath sinking into their skin and hair.

Karis had agreed with the idea from the start – albeit for different reasons — but had remained silent: the last thing she wanted was an argument with Tyrell, and she knew that would have been the result of her saying anything in favor of the idea. If Amiti or Rief want to be by the ocean, that's fine, but as soon as SHE has the nerve to bring up her support, obviously it's just her trying to make Tyrell miserable. Stupid Tyrell.

Karis, in a short burst or rage, threw her foot out at the nearest rock she could find. A yelp of pain and a possibly stubbed toe made her instantly regret the decision.

Her now throbbing toe only served to make her angrier – not only the pain, but the fact that she had let her emotions get the best of her. Karis prided herself on being level headed, which usually was the case unless Tyrell was brought into the picture. Of course, in this instance he had been, and that was why she was walking on this beach; yet another stupid decision she had made in anger. Night was setting soon, and it would bring with it bitter cold. She could already feel slight shivers wracking her body. The cold was worth being away from the party though, as Tyrell had been on her case all day. She may have been a little… harsh, but making a move on her directly after telling her Matthew had no interest in her romantically – he had earned the bruise on his head her Psynergy Rod had oh-so-graciously applied.

She sighed again, and sat down on a nearby larger rock to examine her foot. She had started this walk for the sole purpose of clearing her head, or at least dealing with the numerous thoughts occupying it.

And yet, for an hour she had continually pushed all those issues as far away as she could, content with placing one foot after the other, leaving a steady trail of footprints in the sand, ignoring the irate thoughts lingering in the back of her mind. Now that she was still, she had no real choice but to confront them. The root of the issue, she supposed, was that she was a girl, and she was surround by guys. Yes, she had grown up spending most of her time with Matthew and Tyrell, but that didn't make her male. The LAST thing she wanted to be was male. Well, at least the kind of male Tyrell was. Being like Matthew wouldn't be so bad, she supposed. Or being like Rief and Amiti. She could stand being a prince. A small smile formed on her lips as thoughts of reclining for hours on end and being courted by bold and enchanting suitors flew through her mind, before turning into a scowl at the broken toe nail bleeding profusely in front of her.

It also didn't help that she had a crush on one of them, and he obviously either didn't reciprocate her feelings or was simply too clueless to think about her like that in the first place (that would be Matthew), one of them might have a crush on her, and even if he didn't he spent the entire day pissing her off (that would be Tyrell), one of them DEFINITELY had a crush on her (and, despite how sweet and… princely Amiti was, he definitely wasn't her type), and one of them… well, she actually liked Rief. A lot. Never had he insulted her (like Tyrell), never had she caught him staring at her ass (like Tyrell AND Amiti. She had to give Amiti credit though: at least he looked away when she had caught him doing it), never had he questioned her logic or decision making, or worse, insinuated that she was trying to lead in place of Matthew (LIKE TYRELL).

It also helped that he didn't ignore her like Matthew did. Well, that wasn't fair to Matthew, but having a conversation with him was like a round of tug of war where the rope was tied to a tree. Getting him to speak in complete sentences had the potential to become a viable competitive sport. But Rief? He would talk to her. If she made conversation, he would gladly provide his own piece and speak with her. Often, he would start them up with her as well. Nothing significant, often just various quibbles about the weather, the town they were in, or recollections of events from the day, but they were always pleasant discussions, and certainly brightened her mood.

The first thought that had popped into her mind when they found the poor young man trapped in a box was _Sigh, DEAD. WEIGHT._ It wasn't an unfair criticism: Rief was in no way impressive at first glance. He looked quite childlike, very green in regards to traveling and fighting, and most of all physically unfit for the amount of monster battles, heavy movement (walking everywhere, not to mention the numerous amount of backtracking they did, was very tiring, especially so since they had to keep up with Matthew, as he was their leader, and he more or less marched), and dangers they constantly faced. She and Matthew had shared a look that quite clearly said "He's going to be a burden of terrible proportions."

However, that hadn't been the case at all. Matter of fact, Rief held his weight much better than Amiti or Tyrell, with the prior expecting everyone to do everything for him since he was royalty, and the latter constantly trying to find ways out of doing work or simply forgetting to do it. Rief always lent a hand in any situation, often without even being asked, was friendly towards everyone in the group, kept them incredibly healthy, and could cook well to boot. At least better than Matthew. His version of soup was very, very, very interesting. She was content with her eyes being the only part of her body that was purple. When she had fallen ill with food sickness from some "exotic mushrooms" Matthew had found, she had discovered purple was not her favorite skin color, at least on her. At the mention of illness, she glanced back down at her toe.

"Typical. This day just keeps getting better and better," she muttered to herself, slowly pouring healing Psynergy into the bleeding digit. Her thoughts were still elsewhere, however, and it took her a minute to realize it was healing very slowly. Her frown deepened at the shitty job she was doing, but she gritted her teeth and kept attempting to heal herself. As Psynergy was powered by the mind, her currently helter-skelter thoughts weren't helping matters much at all.

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><p>Unbeknownst to Karis, Rief was watching her as she attempted to heal herself in vain. He had followed her, sensing something was off. She and Tyrell had been short with each other the entire day, but it seemed to be more than that; at one point she had seemed to be on the verge of tears. When they had stopped to set up camp, Karis had muttered something about getting some fresh air (which Rief had thought made little sense, considering they were outside, and had quickly scampered off down the shoreline. Tyrell had, naturally, made a couple of off-color jokes about girls, Karis in particular, and it being her "special time of the month" or, as he put it, "season of the dragon."<p>

Matthew had merely shaken his head, undoubtedly having heard such rants a thousand times or more, but still a small amused grin had found its way to his lips. He was best friends with Tyrell, after all: he was quite used to his antics. Amiti's jaw had dropped and he had berated Tyrell for being immature, indecent, and inappropriate, before pausing and then asking what he meant by "special time of the month." To this Tyrell had exploded with laughter, and Rief himself had admittedly snickered while shaking his head in disbelief. Traveling with the party was quite enjoyable, and in the two months he had been with them there had been few dull moments.

Still, he had quickly decided that it was not a smart idea for Karis to wander off by herself, so he had briefly conveyed his line of thinking to Matthew, and then set off to follow her. The wilderness was too dangerous for anyone to travel alone in, but Rief's worries extended beyond that. He was still concerned about how emotionally distraught she had been and hoped he may be able to cheer her up. He blushed: it had taken very little time for him to care deeply about everyone in their group, Karis in particular.

Rief was… hesitant to admit that he had developed feelings that might be greater than friendship or camaraderie for the Jupiter Adept. Something about the way she carried herself, about the way everything she touched or every area she walked through seemed to sparkle with the electricity so visible in her purple eyes. At first glance they seemed mellow as could be, but in the heat of battle, or when a new idea popped into her always working mind (when she was thinking, her green eyebrows would furrow and she would bite one half of her lip, creating a face that Rief could only describe as the cutest thing he had ever seen in his life), or when Tyrell rubbed her the wrong way, lightning would fly out of them, her mere gaze sending a shock down your spine.

Rief didn't understand why he liked Karis nearly as much when she was angry as when she was nice. Perhaps it was because the anger was rarely directed at him. Not to say she was angry that often: Rief couldn't really blame her when she was either, as it was often rage towards Tyrell he had earned in full. But when she wasn't, she was so nice, so alive, so beautiful. Rief would often get poked by one of his companions when he would stand still and lose himself in watching her just… move. Watching her shirt shimmer from the winds that accompanied her when she jogged, watching her hair whip through the air like a green tempest.

The most amazing thing about her though, was that she liked the same things he did. She liked reading and she liked talking about nature, alchemy, and the wonders of Psynergy, more often than not with him. Few things were dearer to his heart through the day than their little chats. Of course, they often varied their conversations beyond such scholarly topics, whether it be why Matthew was so damn quiet or poking fun at Amiti's princely mannerisms. As of now, Rief had finally caught up to Karis and was taking a much deserved breather.

He had only very recently caught up: moving swiftly in his heavy robe was anything but easy and Karis was incredibly athletic for a girl, even before adding in the fact that she was a Jupiter Adept, making her naturally fast and prone to simply manipulating the wind around her to increase her speed. In other words, he had sloppily jogged and broken into a heavy sweat for the last forty minutes trying to catch up with her while she appeared to be briskly walking. Thank the Gods she hadn't turned around to witness the embarrassing spectacle. Now, he silently panted, hunched over from the strain.

He was about to alert Karis to his presence, when she continued speaking to herself. "It's not like I have that much to whine about, honestly. I should just get over it. He doesn't feel the same way; I don't need to be able to read minds to know that. I'm just like a sister to him. And as soon as I realize that, I tell Tyrell what I think to see if he's talked to Matthew about me at all and ask him if I'm right, and then he breaks my heart and asks me out in the same breath? I SWEAR someday, I am going to knee him in the crotch so hard he'll wish he didn't have balls."

Rief's mouth dropped open in shock, and before he could stop himself, he shouted aloud, "What?"

Karis back snapped straight in an instant, and she slowly twisted her head to see Rief standing there. Her face was red from a mixture of anger and embarrassment. Somehow, it lessened when she realized it was only Rief. Still, she was not pleased.

"So, you've been stalking me? Typical. I just want some time alone Rief, go back to camp." She turned back away from him, refocusing her healing efforts. With the newfound distraction, her attempts were becoming even more futile, and with dismay she realized she must have wasted at least half of her Psynergy trying to heal a simple stubbed toe with a broken nail.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted Rief walking toward her, and suddenly exploded in a shout. "RIEF, I MEANT IT! GO BACK TO CAMP, I'M FIN—" She paused as the soothing light of Ply easily healed her injured toe. It took but a moment, and then it was as good as new. She bit her lip. She HAD told him to go back to camp, but fixing her toe had been a nice gesture, and she liked Rief, even if he had followed her. It would be rude not to say thank you. As she decided this, he surprised her by speaking first.

"I'm sorry I overheard you. I apologize." Karis turned to stare at the young Mercury Adept, only to see his face flushed and staring fixedly at the ground. "I know that I'm not exactly the first person you'd want to be your confidant, but it seems like you'd like someone to talk to, and I'd be happy to oblige. I mean, only if you want to. I'll probably be pretty bad at it. I never really… talked to girls before I met you."

Karis's remaining feelings of annoyance faded at this earnest apology, and she tilted her head in confusion. "I thought you worked at a hospital back in Imil? Surely you've seen all sorts of women along with men, and girls along with boys?"

Rief shrugged, an uneasy smile plastered on his face. "Well to be honest, I guess I did. But it was different: it was work. When someone comes to you because their hand is partly severed, it's not the same as stopping by just to say hi." Karis giggled, and Rief felt his cheeks grow warm. He prayed to Mercury that he wasn't blushing.

"And I spent a lot of time, you know, reading, healing, learning. Truth be told, I didn't have that many friends. Nowell was always more outgoing. I mean, Mom tried on occasion to push me towards making friends and hanging out with people, but in the end she told me it was more important for me to be happy than to do what other people wanted of me. So, she just let me do what I enjoyed." Karis nodded.

"So… does that, in a way, makes us kind of like the first friends you've ever had?" She paused after realizing what she had said. "Oh, no, Rief! I didn't mean it to sound like that, I—" But she was silenced with a cheery smile and wave of his hand.

"Don't worry about it; it's more or less true. It was hard in Imil. Being the son of a Warrior of Vale in the first place is tough, but… do the people of Kalay really look up to your dad and Tyrell and Matthew's parents?"

Karis considered this for a moment. "Well yeah, I mean, they respect them and like them. I supposed we get treated a bit differently too, but nothing major. Why?"

Rief laughed and shook his head. "Well, my hometown kind of adores my Mom. She doesn't make a big deal out of it, because she's incredibly modest and humble." Karis smiled and nodded, recalling tales from Ivan, Isaac, and Garet indicating as much. "But it's gotten to the point where it's almost like she's a goddess to them. So… I guess they see me and my sister as kind of 'off limits'. I mean, Nowell took advantage of it and basked in the glory a little bit (and you can bet my Mom wasn't too happy about that), but I just preferred to stay away from all of that fame and popularity. Just isn't me, you know?" Rief frowned as he finished.

"What's wrong Rief?" Karis questioned, lightly laying a hand on his shoulder. He flinched, but she didn't rescind.

"It's just… I don't know how much of a 'hero' I am. Heck, I'm barely a warrior. While I don't care about living up to whatever ridiculous standards the people of Imil set for me, I'm the son of a Warrior of Vale, and that means something to me. I look at you, and Matthew, and Tyrell, and Amiti, even if he isn't technically a child of the Warriors of Vale, and you're all fierce warriors, all powerful and I'm just not."

Karis wrinkled her nose, and shook her head. "Rief, I mean, not knocking your mom or anything, but wasn't she primarily a healer? That's what my dad and Isaac and Garet would say, but they never said it with anything but the utmost praise. Tyrell, Matthew, and I would stay up till the cinders in the fire waned, as our dads whispered how their limbs would hang off, how poison would drip from their wounds and turn their skin green, how they would be on deaths door before the blue-haired angel of Imil would bring them back from the brink." She smiled and gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. "If that's not heroic, I don't know what is."

Rief shrugged, and responded, "Yeah, she WAS primarily a healer until she went to Xian in their quest and she learned Kung-Fu. You probably haven't heard about it, because after that she kind of beat up the guys once, and she said they resolved to never talk about it again. And even Nowell, despite what she looks like, can cause a lot of pain if you give her a really good reason to. One time a couple of thugs tried to mug Kraden, and… let's just say it didn't end well for them." Rief gulped; that was a fairly disturbing memory. A lot of ice and blood.

Karis sighed, realizing she wasn't getting through to him. As she prepared to drop the subject, an idea sparked in her head, and she decided to give it one more go. "Rief, regardless of what you think, we all appreciate you. The group wouldn't be the same without you. I'll admit, the first time I saw you, I was… skeptical. But I was wrong. You're more heroic than you give yourself credit for. I think you're just as much of a hero as your mom, as well as all of the other Warriors of Vale." A sudden urge gripped Karis, and she felt her cheeks warm. For whatever reason, at this moment, she had the urge to lean forward and give Rief a peck on the cheek.

Why on earth did she want to kiss him? Sure, Rief was nice but… well, but what? He was handsome, maybe a little small for his age, but she cared much more about brain than brawn, so to speak. The look on Rief's face quickly shook her from her thoughts. His mouth was open in shock, and his eyes were wide. Karis gulped; this had not been the reaction she had been hoping for. "Rief, I—" She paused once again, noticing that he was not looking at her, but past her. Suddenly, she felt a low tremor wave through the sand. Karis knew that sand was not a good medium for sonic travel, so that meant whatever had caused the vibration must have been—

HUGE. Karis let out a yelp of fright at the troll that was approaching them. She automatically reached for her rapier, but her hands shook as she did so, and it took her a few seconds before she could firmly grasp the handle and unsheathe it, all while stumbling backwards. It was more of a natural reaction than a sensical one; the last thing she intended to do was get close enough to the troll to use her sword. Rief began to back-peddle as well, nearly tumbling to the ground as his feet got stuck in his robes folds, but still managing to send out a deluge of water and a few ice shards. The troll didn't blink as the water slapped against it, and grunted in slight pain as a few of the icicles collided with its skin, leaving minor scrapes and wounds. As Karis's mind focused to conjure a storm, and her body began to glow with her ample Psynergy, her foot caught on something moving backwards and she felt herself trip. She cursed under her breath: she had tripped on the same damn rock that had stubbed her toe.

The troll, meanwhile, was steadily lumbering in her direction, its tongue hanging out the side of its mouth. It was very clear that, to it, they were dinner. Karis, despite the situation, couldn't help but acknowledge the troll was making the exact same face Tyrell made when he was starving, and had just seen a lot of good food. Yep, same stupid grin, drool-strings and all. She'd have to remember to make fun of him for that if she survived. Oh, shit. Surviving.

Not bothering to lift herself off the ground, and hoping that Rief had noticed she had fallen, she summoned a Tornado. It flew into the monstrosity, ripping at its thick hide, tearing at its leathery skin, and sending tiny grains of sand and shrapnel into its greedy little eyes. There was no doubt that the spell had hurt it, but the pain only served to make it angrier. As such, what had been a lumber turned into a reckless sprint. Karis gasped and dug her foot into the sand, pushing herself up, while numerous ice shards flew into her foe, no doubt Rief trying to give her time to rise. With more silent swearing, she realized her ankle was now in tremendous pain.

Trying to block the sharp sting in her ankle from her mind, she pulled herself to her feet and began limping away from the fiendish monster, firing bolts of plasma blindly over her shoulder, praying Rief had gotten out of the way. At the thought of her friend, she glanced around wildly: what if a stray bolt had hit him? Thankfully, he was actually right next to her, his body glowing with Psynergy. She looked up to see the troll roaring in pain; by the charred look and black pus of its left eye, she assumed one bolt of plasma had blinded it, at least partially. A similar burn mark was found on its kneecap, and was giving it trouble in regards to movement.

It stumbled forward, still moving at a quick pace despite its recent injury, its dull, hulking teeth nearly overflowing from its mouth in hunger and anger as its one eye glowed yellow with rage. Karis readied another strike of Plasma, this time taking a second to charge up her strength. It barraged the troll, leaving a gaping black hole in its muscular stomach, the moment Rief sent a small sheet of water from the ocean onto the beach and simultaneously froze it. The result was the troll getting bombarded with the Plasma, losing its balance, and then ice-skating incredibly badly on its good leg for a few seconds (Karis was reminded briefly of their misadventures in the Harapa ruins, dully noting that the troll and Tyrell also happened to share the same aptitude at movement on ice) until it crashed into the rock Karis had been sitting on violently. She wasted no time in summoning the strongest Jupiter Psynergy she possessed and sending it at the troll. A small smile crossed her face as the wind and storms' might assaulted the behemoth; their continuous attacks were finally beginning to weaken it. Her Tornados now sliced deep wounds all around its body, while Plasma and Rays coated its body black with corrosive burns. It was not down for the count, but it was unable to get back on its feet due to its fresh wounds, injured leg, and her ferocious storm.

Suddenly, she began panting and wondered why she was getting so winded. As she raised her hand to cast yet another blast of wind, she gritted her teeth, focusing tremendously to bring forth a powerful gust. Why was her Psynergy nearly depleted? She had much for Psynergy than she had use — her toe. Karis muttered, "Damn," under her breath. Now, she was very nearly drained because she had wasted half her Psynergy doing a terrible job at healing in her anger. Wonderful. In actuality, the troll looked nearly defeated; all she need was one more powerful blast to defeat it.

Glancing at Rief, Karis said, "I'm almost out of Psynergy, but I've got just enough to finish this thing off. Care to lend a hand?"

Rief smiled, and nodded. "You hit him once, I trap him, and you finish him off?"

Karis returned the smile, and teased, "Sure, make me do most of the work. I'm fine with that. Let's show this big boy why trying to eat a pair of Jupiter and Mercury adepts is a bad idea."

Rief grinned, and they turned back towards their enemy to see it finally rising back to its feet. Its breathing was deep, and its rage-filled heartbeat beat like the drums of war. As its eye located its meal, it roared, and began an uneven rush towards Karis and Rief. Karis raised her arm and, with slight effort due to her dwindling Psynergy, shot a particularly strong Ray into the troll's good knee, sending its massive body back down to the sand.

Out in the ocean, Rief began willing a giant wave to form, and after a minute it stood ready to strike. Suddenly, he threw out his staff into an attack position, and the wave came crashing down, catching the still recovering troll off guard. It did not move far, but the wave tore at its already numerous wounds and knocked it somewhat senseless. However, Rief was not done yet. Almost immediately after the wave hit, he began charging up again, and while the troll lay dazed on the ground, he cast another spell: the most powerful piece of Psynergy they had come across yet, Frostbite, gift of the unwilling Ice Queen and her mystic gem. The ocean water quickly froze, sending jagged spikes and shards of ice every which way into the troll's body, its maroon blood now spreading gratuitously. But still the ice climbed, eventually covering and trapping the troll up to its waist: Rief had successfully encased the fiend in an icy cage.

He gave Karis a thumbs up as he panted from the colossal amount of Psynergy he had just exerted. She flashed a quick grin before closing her eyes, and lulling herself into deep concentration, calling forth all the remaining Psynergy she could grasp. As she raised her rapier toward the sky, her body began to spark and crackle with purple electricity, so much so that Rief took a few warning steps backwards. After several moments her eyes snapped open, filled with the bright lavender light of Jupiter, and she brought her rapier down, sending a fierce and titanic spire of lightning directly through the troll. The strike took but a moment, and then there was silence as the troll's body disintegrated into nothingness.

Karis and Rief, breathing heavily, glanced at each other, triumphant smiles adjourning their faces. True, they had fought many monsters together, but rarely with only one other member of the party to help them, and rarely anything as ferocious as that troll. Their euphoria at their success was short lived, as they quickly fell to the ground in exhaustion.

They landed in a pile, with Karis landing stomach first on Rief's stomach. At first, both were too tired to realize the awkward position they were in, but after a few moments of silence, Rief became well aware that a very pretty girl was right on top of him in a very… intimate position. He could feel her breathing, heavy and strained, her heartbeat fluttering quickly, and it was bliss. She was drenched in sweat (as was he) from the battle, but he seemed to not mind the smell. To be honest, he was perfectly happy right where he was, and was making no motion to attempt to remove her, despite the fact that she weighed a bit more than he did.

Karis was more or less completely out of it. She had very little idea where she was and wanted simply to lay down on whatever comfortable thing she was on. Various images of a troll and Rief flashed through her brain, but they didn't seem to make any sense. She felt drained beyond words: she had no Psynergy left, her ankle still hurt terribly, and after walking for a long time, quickly having to use a lot of energy in battle had left her physically dilapidated.

Her mind slowly pieced together what had happened as she breathed in deeply, resting her head on a warm and soft surface. Was it sand? She remembered fighting the troll… with Rief. She had tripped and used up all her Psynergy, and then Rief had unleashed a stunning attack that had killed the troll. But what… oh, they had collapsed. She wasn't surprised that she had collapsed, and Rief must have been exhausted from the Frostbite he had cast as well. But, where was Rief? He had been right next to her when they had – and then, Karis realized what she was laying on was fabric.

She quickly opened her eye to take a glimpse at her surroundings, shutting it when her initial fear was confirmed. Yep, she was on top of Rief, with her head on his chest by the looks of it. Her mind told her that she should roll off as quickly as possible, but her body didn't seem to agree. It fact, as much as she was enjoying the rest, some part of her was enjoying the fact that she was in close physical contact with Rief even more. So, not wanting to land on the cold sand or exert any more energy, she simply laid on top of him, pretending to be asleep. After a moment of hesitation, she softly nuzzled her head into his chest. She smiled when he let out a gasp at the action, and was glad he could not see the blush spreading across her face.

Rief had one as well. He wondered whether or not she was awake; he assumed she wasn't, but if she was, did that mean she was enjoying what was happening? He lay motionless, wondering what on earth he was supposed to do. He continued to go back and forth between debating that question and enjoying the fact that there was a beautiful girl who he had a crush on lying on top of him. Eventually, the latter won out, and he indulged in the sensation, the warmth from her body perfectly offsetting the cold of the beach, her perfume and sweat mixing to form a smell that was uniquely her own, and the only worry crossing his mind a growing tingling sensation in his nether regions.

That was, until he felt her begin to shiver. While she was wearing a decent amount of clothing, Rief knew the female sex was more prone to the bite of cold, and the wind was starting to pick up. He, on the other hand, was dressed in his heavy Imillian robes, which had repelled sheer cold much more severe than the light chill on the beach. They were quite large (Mia had believed he would grow into them during his studies with Kraden, which to his dismay he hadn't, and as such they more or less swallowed him), and had made both the jog to catch up to Karis and fighting the troll more difficult that either one had any right being.

Karis mentally cursed. She actually had been near sleep, being as worn out as she was, until the cold had set in. Now, she was trembling. True, Rief's body heat was keeping her underside warm, but the wind was still careening all along her back. She had a decision to make: she either had to pretend to wake up and make her way back to camp with Rief, or just accept the cold. Neither seemed like preferable options, with the first being pointless as she would have to walk for about an hour, and despite the fact that the movement would warm her up, she imagined by the time she got back she would be blue from cold. In fact, this brought her to wonder why she had even gone on this walk in the first place. In retrospect, it seemed incredibly foolish, childish, and just plain stupid. The latter, simply staying put, just plain wasn't an option, as every passing minute brought her body to violent shakes.

Rief felt Karis begin to shake even more and decided that, as a healer and her friend, he could not allow her to catch a cold or hypothermia while he was right beneath her. So, he lightly wrapped his right arm around her and pulled her slightly to the side while using his left hand to undo his robe. Underneath it, he still had a decent amount of clothing in the form of a simple t-shirt and cotton pants. Since his robe was so large, he figured he would be able to wrap it around both of them, and as he attempted to, he found his assumption to be correct. He moved Karis back onto his chest, and then wrapped his warm robe around her back. For a brief moment, he made a motion to remove his arms as he was holding her in an embrace. However, on a whim he left them. It must have been an odd sight: he and Karis wrapped in his robe like some sort of cocoon.

Karis was surprised when Rief began to move under her, and even more surprised when he gently slumped her to the side of him. She wondered what was happening when she heard him fumbling with his clothes, and realization hit her as his robe flaps began to cover her. Mere moments later, they were enclosed together within it. Surprisingly, there was still a decent amount of space left to them, and she took advantage of it, lifting her head to look into Rief's face. Even thought it was hard to see, both could tell the other was blushing. Karis had never been this close to a boy before, and while Rief had obviously been close to girls and women during healing, this was completely different.

"Th-thanks for warming me up," Karis stuttered. She was finding it more uncomfortable looking into his eyes with every passing moment, until he smiled. Somehow, that seemed to evaporate all the awkwardness she had been feeling.

"Don't mention it. You were cold, so I wanted to warm you up. It's not like we can walk back to camp if you're already freezing. We should warm up here for a bit, and then make our way back," Rief said softly. His voice shook in certain places, but he managed to, for the most part, speak well, and the smile had still not left his face. Rief hadn't realized until now how close their faces were. Mere inches separated them, and Karis seemed to be slowly leaning down, so methodically that he barely noticed.

"I am going to mention it, because it deserves mentioning. Not only was using your robe to warm me up smart, it was really sweet." She smiled as she said sweet, only then noticing she had wrapped her arms tenderly around his shoulders. "Not to mention how you fought the troll. If you honestly still wonder if you're heroic, there's your answer. You didn't have to come after me, you didn't have to care. You could have left when I told you to and yelled at you, but you didn't. If you hadn't been there… I don't know, Rief. It might not have ended well. And you fought like a hero: that Frostbite was amazing, and freezing the ground so the troll would fall over was ingenious. Mia would be proud. I'm proud."

Rief's face lit up at these words, and at the look on Karis's face. It was the facial expression she made when she was truly happy and more often than not proud of someone. Indeed, that was the case: her bright eyes were sparkling with admiration, and her smile was a wide pumpkin grin. Rief still didn't know how much of a hero he felt like, but he wasn't willing to do anything to make her face frown. So, he responded, "Yeah, I did kind of kick its ass, didn't I?" Karis laughed, and her purple eyes seemed to light up the entire inside of the robe. Then, his mouth working faster than his mind, he continued. "I was worried when I heard you had gone out on your own, so I decided to follow. And the rest was because… well, I care about you, Karis." He blushed as he said this. "Like you said, you guys are the first real friends I've ever had, and you all feel like even more like that. Like family. Especially you. You just—" He froze, he had gone too far.

Before he could stutter, say anything wrong, or make the moment awkward, without skipping a beat Karis whispered, "I feel the same way about you." Rief's blush deepened, she couldn't possibly mean… "No matter what this journey brings, at least I've met you. I know you heard me talking about my crush on Matthew and Tyrell's crush on me. It was a stupid reason for me to leave camp and walk around by myself, but I was trying to clear my head. The good news is it worked. Tyrell's just flirting, and he probably doesn't know how much it gets to me, or he'd stop. And Matthew… I'm a sister to him. Earlier, that bothered me, but right now, I think I've moved on. There's another guy, who I've met recently, that I think I'd like to be with more…" She trailed off, but Rief was given no time to ponder whether or not she was talking about him, as the gap between them, which had been slowly receding, finally ended, and their lips met.

It was Rief's first kiss, and Karis's first kiss in a long while, and it was electric. Karis loved the feel of Rief's lips, loved the gentle way in which he returned her kiss, loved the way he unhooked one of his arms from her back and sensually stroked her neck. Slowly, she began to deepen her kisses, and he responded by leaning into her body. It was funny: she had been so cold before, but now she was burning with heat. She longed to part his lips with her tongue but worried how Rief would react. Her worries were doused when he did it himself, and her tongue began to dance with his. She enjoyed the game they played, starting in her mouth, then drifting into his, then allowing a brief moment of respite in the space between their lips. He tasted so good, that she almost didn't notice his hands begin to drift toward her hips and to her love-handles.

Rief had no idea what he was doing, but Karis seemed to be pleased (hell, she was eating his face off) and words could not express how greatly he was enjoying it. At the beginning of the day, there was no doubt in his mind that Karis was well out of his league. And yet here he was, kissing her, touching her. It was too much for his mind, but not his body; that was working on its own. His hands had begun to wander, and he couldn't believe how something so athletic and powerful could be so soft and wonderful to the touch. Her stomach was muscular, but still soft and dainty, and her hips, while not filled out yet as she was only sixteen, were curved and sultry. And her lips, and tender face, oh her lips. So soft, absent of any chapping, leading into her warm and sensual mouth, a mouth he was currently in love with exploring.

Karis, meanwhile, was starting to grow tired of constantly running into Rief's glasses with her nose, and was about to pull back so she could remove them. Instead, she let out a small eep of surprise as he felt his hand firmly grip her butt. Her eep led him to hesitate and relax his grip so he was barely touching her butt at all. She smiled. Such a gentlemen. Her hand released from his body, found the hand, and placed it firmly where it had been. It was Rief's turn to let out a gasp of surprise, and at this Karis parted from his face. She stared down at him and giggled: his glasses were completely steamed, so much so she doubted he could see anything. She wiped off the condensation with her glove, and stared into his beautiful blue eyes.

"I can take them off, if they're bothering you," he said, breathing deeply.

Karis smiled and brought her finger to his lips to silence him. "You can, if you'd like, but I think you'll want to keep them on, at least for this."

Before he could question what she meant, her hand seductively drifted to her blouse and began to unbutton it. She took her time, a satisfied and sexy smile playing across her face as Rief's jaw widened with each subsequent button. Finally, she was finished, and after removing her arms from the sleeves, tossed it beside her. She was now wearing only a simple undershirt and her bra, which was quite visible. She spared a moment to grab his free hand and run it down the middle of her front. She desperately wanted to let it go down even farther, but she restrained herself.

And here came an awkward pause. Her fingers laced themselves around her undershirt, but she didn't pull it off. Their breathing was heavy, as they stared into each others' eyes. Such is young love that things happen quicker than one might expect, and only a brief pause is needed to bring senses back to reality. Karis swore in her mind: she had gone further than she had intended and now was completely lost as to what she should do. Part of her wanted to continue and take off her shirt, but her sense of logic that had been so easily stifled in the heat of the moment was now screaming at her that she was only sixteen and had never gone further than kissing before today. She bit her lip; damn, no matter what she did now, she had ruined the moment. Either she broke off and seemed like a tease, or she kept going and would feel uncomfortable beyond words. Before her thoughts could wander any more, she was shaken from them by Rief's hand lightly touching her cheek.

"Karis?" He started, his glasses already re-smothered with fog. "We don't have to go any farther… than this, you know? I mean, this has been spectacular…" For a brief moment, his eyes became dreamy, and Karis stifled a giggle. "But, I think it would be best if we… stopped at kissing. I still want to kiss you, if you want to I mean." Karis smiled at his remark. Once again, such a gentleman.

"Oh Rief…" She whispered, bringing her hand off her shirt's frills and tenderly resting it on his, sandwiching it between it and her cheek."You're so sweet. Of course I want to kiss you. I'm sorry I… took my shirt off."

She blushed, but continued. "I just got caught up in the moment. But… let's get back into it, shall we?" She brought herself forward, finding his mouth again, as their hands left her cheek, but instead grasped each other. She parted from his face for a brief moment, only to stare into his blue eyes once more, as she doubted their faces would be far enough apart for eye-contact during the next few hours. Rief smiled as blue and purple met, and while the smile was quickly lost in a wave of Karis's lips, he in no way whatsoever minded. Warming her up was going to be quite enjoyable.

* * *

><p>Two hours later (one hour was all it took for both of them to be quite heated, and the other had been spent walking back, with Rief healing Karis's ankle first of course), Rief and Karis paced slowly into camp, hand in hand. Both still wore light blushes on their faces, but they didn't mind, nor did they mind the stares their companions gave them. Matthew's was confused, Tyrell's was, if Karis could believe it, extremely enthusiastic, complete with a thumbs up, and Amiti's was a mixture of shock and jealousy. Karis sighed – she had some explaining to do. For now, though, she wasn't going to bother. The day had featured enough ups and downs, enough excitement. She was going to sleep. Rief had figured as much when she made her way to her tent, but he hadn't figured he would give him a quick but loving goodnight kiss. As she pulled away, she spared a moment to look at him, a boy she never thought she would see in this light. He smiled. Nothing made him happier than getting to stare into those wonderful, electric, beautiful purple eyes. With that, she opened the tent flap, and disappeared.<p>

Rief gave a nervous sigh, and sat down around the campfire with his friends. He was afraid of their reactions, but he didn't feel that anything would be gained from waiting till the morning. Amiti was the first to speak. "I wish you well." It held a bit of longing in it, but was sincere, as proven by Amiti's warm smile that followed it.

Matthew nodded, a small smile on his lips. "As do I."

Tyrell just shook his head. "One hell of a girl. I had a hope, but there are other fish in the sea. We probably would have bit each other's heads off anyway, judging by our arguments. Even though a relationship is a lost cause, I'll work on that. Take good care of her, Rief." He ended with one of his signature dumb grins, and Rief returned it with a smile.

"Thanks guys… all of that really means a lot to me. To be honest, I'm still not really sure how it happened." He said, staring into the campfire, still somewhat in disbelief as to what had happened.

"Hmmm. I always thought Matthew would end up with Karis. Whole childhood friend thing, and they just seemed right for each other. I guess the issue was it was more like sibling love than anything else," Tyrell said, ending with a large yawn.

Matthew grinned. "Yeah, you could say that. It's strange, I have weird tastes in women."

Rief raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Matthew shrugged. "I don't know. I'm really into girls with a lot of hair, to be honest with you. Like, hair everywhere; fur even. It's probably just a phase, but who knows, maybe I'm destined to meet the furry girl of my dreams on this quest. Either way, I'm going to hit the hay. Night guys." He left as Tyrell deteriorated into a laughing fit at his revelation. After he quieted down, the rest of them decided sleep was a good idea as well, and made their way to the tents.

Karis, meanwhile, had been listening to the entire conversation and breathed a sigh of relief that they had all accepted their relationship. She would still have to deal with some awkwardness, mostly in the form of teasing from Tyrell, but she could live with that. She made her way over to her small sleeping bag and slipped in. Her body was somewhat sore from the battle with the troll, all the walking, and a lot of heated romance with a very special Mercury Adept. She was glad they had cut off when they had; still, who knew how long this journey would be. She smiled, realizing there was plenty of time for Rief to get some hands on experience with female anatomy, which would no doubt serve his medical training well. Truly, it had been a dumb idea to walk on the beach, but she had to give herself credit. Ever her dumb ideas turned out very well, as proven by the warm smile that crossed her face as she thought about her gentleman, her understanding, caring, boyfriend, her Rief. She would never find the need to walk along the shoreline alone again.

* * *

><p><em>This one has some interesting stories behind it. As with most of anything I write, I started it off with a basic idea and I let it expand, with the idea being Rief and Karis realizing they have feeling for each other on a beach. However, the troll and the scene inside the robe were very spur of the moment. To be very honest, I stopped in the middle of the scene inside the robe and said aloud to myself, "Dammit, this wasn't supposed to be a lemon, so how did it turn into one?" As such, I tried to rein the sexual content back a little. Originally, they were going to possibly kiss, maybe make out a little, but I really am at a loss as to how I ended up with Karis taking her shirt off.<em>

_It just kind of happened, for better or worse, so I kept it and stopped right at the part that would have, in my opinion, pushed me into an M rating. I nearly just said "screw it, I'm getting an M anyway" and finished writing the scene, but I decided in the end that I didn't want this to go that far. Recently, I had decided that, for better or worse, the scene I'm describing is getting axed. No boobs. Hurrah? It just didn't feel natural, especially considering it's Rief. He's kind of… err, young, and someone who I would feel would take it slowly. And I didn't want to push my rating. So a nice solid T._

_Other worries I have with the story are pacing (always worry about that), whether or not the dialogue was too frequent or just plain bad (have issues with that), characterization (not too worried), whether or not the sequence of time was clear, and whether or not the battle scene came out well. My vocabulary is also a sticking point for me. I'll continuously be editing, so criticism is well received, even if it's flaming. No point in sugar coating, I think I suck and I'd like to get better. I actually really enjoyed the editing process; I had a lot of fun tweaking things and adding writing to flesh out the characters and scenes more._

_Finally, DAWWWWWW! I thought it would be so painful to write this, but after actually doing so I am now a firm backer of Tiara Shipping. Rief and Karis are ridiculously adorable together. And I almost don't hate him anymore. Almost. Making progress. Okay, I may be putting up a front and now think he's awesome. I thought this would be a one-time thing (I have an obsession with odd GS pairings as long as there's a way to make them make sense), but I could see myself writing more of this couple. In fact, I probably will. Next point, there has to be a better name than Tiara Shipping. There just has to be. Also, I had to put in a little Spirit Shipping shot in there; unless it's Dawn Shipping, Spirit Shipping all the way._

_Finally (after this I promise I'll shut up), this is my first completed fanfic. MUCH longer than I expected (I was going for 2000-3000 words). Definitely not the first I started: I've got a whole pile of those. But the first I've finished. Feels good, man. Feels good. Will I always right this much fluffy romance? Possibly. I'd like to delve into deeper themes, but if this makes any sense fanfiction is my happiness release: it's what I do to cheer myself up. Therefore, it's usually pretty fluffy. Hopefully, that won't always be the case, but for now, a little fluff is good. And god dang. Two gigantic author's notes. I'll cut down in the future. Hopefully. Review if you wish, but it's not a big deal for me. I'm just happy I get to read all this great fanfiction and post my own crappy fanfiction. I do love reviews though, especially constructive criticism. I need all of it I can get. With that, thanks for reading, I'll stop ranting._


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